Ten-Minute
Activist: Brief Letter or Email Orange County Diocese Races to Settle
Cases:
Will Try to Seal Church Files

The diocese of Orange County CA is rushing to beat
a judge’s July 21 deadline for settling with more than 100
alleged victims. If the settlement occurs, the diocese will be able
to seal files on how church bureaucrats handled child abusers and
their victims.

Survivor Joelle Casteix says she will reject a settlement if it
means the sealing of church files. The diocesan spokesperson claims
Casteix is “the only one interested in the release of files.”
Please show that you are very interested too.

An outcry is needed. Send a brief letter or email to the Los Angeles
Times or the Orange County Register, insisting that church
files be released. Then send a copy of your letter to Raymond Boucher,
the lead plaintiff's attorney in the settlement talks.

Important Background

* The handling of the Orange County claims will set a precedent for resolving
cases in other Southern California dioceses – including the roughly
500 claims in Los Angeles. See recent articles from the Los
Angeles Times and the Associated
Press about the O.C. settlement negotiations.

* Church documents must be released to shed light on how perpetrators
hid their crimes. Consider the shocking story
of Orange County’s renowned Mater Dei High School, “the most
successful Catholic high school in the western United States,” and
the many alleged child molesters who have worked there.

Mr. Boucher is leading settlement negotiations on behalf of the
more than 100 people claiming sexual abuse. It might help him to know
that the public is opposed to a settlement that would seal church documents.